Friday's notebook

Posted by Mandy Housenick | June 12, 2009 at 08:46 PM

PITCHING NEWS

There was all sorts of news about pitchers before Friday’s game against the Red Sox.

Left-handed reliever Scott Eyre was put on the 15-day disabled list with a strained calf. To take his place on the 25-man roster, the Phillies called up pitcher Kyle Kendrick ( 4-4, 4.03 ERA as a starter) from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

And Brett Myers, a life-long Phillie, spoke for the first time since having hip surgery last Thursday.

Eyre said his calf was bothering him on-and-off during the team’s West Coast trip and then felt another twinge when he pitched on Wednesday in New York. The final blow came as he ran in to the mound from the bullpen Thursday at Citi Field.

“I felt a couple little pops in my calf,” he said. “I’ve never actually walked in from the outfield grass to the mound before. And I had to do that last night. I didn’t really enjoy that. I like to run all the way to the mound, do my job and get out [there]… but I walked all the way across.

“It hurt after that. I told [Ryan Howard] if I had to get off the mound to cover first, we were going to be in trouble. I couldn’t run anywhere.”

Eyre said it’s not a constant pain and doesn’t hurt to the touch. But anytime the muscle is flexed, like when he is running or walking up the steps, then it bothers him.

Although he can’t come off the disabled list before June 27, he expects to be feeling better before that.

“I’ll just sit here and be a cheerleader [until then],” said Eyre, who is 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 14 innings this season.

Kendrick, who went 21-13 with a 4.78 ERA in 2007 and 2008 with the Phillies, was in the running for the fifth starter’s spot early in spring training, but the final decision came down to Chan Ho Park and J.A. Happ.

Kendrick, who struggled for much of the second half of 2008, has been with the IronPigs for the entire 2009 season and couldn’t be happier about being back in the big leagues, especially since he feels he’s improved.

“It makes you feel good,” he said. “No matter if it’s the bullpen or as a starter, you want to be in the big leagues and I’m just happy to be here. I’m glad to be back, I know that. I’m just going to learn from the guys out there, ask questions and pitch some big innings hopefully and help us win some games.

“It’s helped me down there. I’ve been working on my off-speed pitches; they’ve been a lot better, the cutter and changeup. I’m happy with it.”

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said the reports he’s been getting on Kendrick lately have gotten better and better. Plus, they wanted a guy capable of throwing multiple innings.

“We could use some length,” Manuel said. “We felt like with all the Interleague play we’ve got coming up, and who we’re playing and stuff, we might get in a situation where we need somebody who can throw anywhere from four to five innings and that’s Kendrick. Our reports are that Kendrick is throwing the ball pretty good. They say his changeup is really starting to show some improvement. But the reason we called him up is for the length.”

MYERS MIGHT RETURN

Myers doesn’t want you counting him out just yet.

Exactly one week after his surgery, he was already walking, even though doctors told him it would be 10-14 days before he’d be able to.

“I’m still walking with a little bit of a limp, [but] so far everything feels good. I’m not in any pain,” he said. “They think I’m a little bit ahead of schedule, being able to walk right now. I’m going to keep rehabbing it, and hopefully, be back soon.”

OK. That might be a bit of wishful thinking. Myers won’t be pitching soon. But he insists he’s shooting for a September return.

“Realistically, I think I can be back by September, with the way I’m starting to feel,” Myers said. “I was talking to the physical therapist and he basically said that your body is going to tell you when you can do stuff. Yesterday my body told me I could walk. I was almost crutch-free. I was using them to lean on a little bit. He told me to put them down yesterday, but he didn’t want me walking around too much because he said I could get some fatigue or whatever. That’s probably a good thing because it’s stretching. Other than that, things are going good. They want me to take days off, but I’m not in that kind of mood right now. I want to get it over with and be back.”

Myers’ hip still has quite a bit of swelling and there were three bandages covering incisions with stitches. It will be about two more weeks before his rehab starts getting more aggressive.

So the real question is….what’s is been like for him watching games at home?

“I didn’t realize how much I got into the games watching them on TV,” he said. “I thought I was into it more when I was watching it here. It’s actually worse when I’m at home because I can scream at the TV. It’s pretty pathetic because people won’t watch the games with me. I can actually see if an umpire misses a call on replay and I’m going crazy, ‘You missed it.’ I can’t call nobody and tell them.”

What’s new: The Phillies finally returned home Friday after a 10-game road trip, during which they went 7-3 and batted .259 with 16 home runs.

Of note: Although the Phillies have 20 come-from-behind wins, they’re just 3-19 when trailing after eight innings.

Pre-game quote of the day: “It’s tough watching on TV. I’m probably just as bad as the fans,” said Phillies pitcher Brett Myers, who is recovering from hip surgery.

Best of Charlie’s chat: “I’ve come to the conclusion of who Jimmy is, how he plays, his personality, how he sees the game, it doesn’t matter if he hits one or ninth, if he’s gonna hit, he’s gonna hit. If he’s not gonna hit, he’s not gonna hit. That’s kind of who he is. I think he thinks of himself as a leadoff hitter and why shouldn’t he? And I just moved him down six for a couple games to give him a different look. It was more me than him."

Stat of the day:Raul Ibanez has five outfield assists.Matt Kemp and Jay Bruce lead the National League with seven each.

Visiting team tidbits: Boston’s bullpen has a 2.21 ERA in 28 games since May 10 and leads the majors with a 2.88 mark overall.